'Jeopardy!' champ Chu unseated after 12-day run

Thursday, March 13, 2014 12:00 AM

This image released by Jeopardy Productions, Inc. shows host Alex Trebek with contestant Arthur Chu in front of a total of his winnings at a taping of "Jeopardy," in Culver City, Calif. Chu, who won big money while taking heat for his renegade style, has been defeated. Chu finished in third place with zero dollars on the Wednesday, March 12, 2014, edition of the syndicated quiz show. He had reigned for 12 days. His total winnings were $297,200. (AP Photo/Jeopardy Productions, Inc.)

By FRAZIER MOOREAP Television Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — "Jeopardy!" champ Arthur Chu, who won big money while taking heat for his renegade style, has been defeated.

Chu finished in third place with zero dollars on Wednesday's edition of the syndicated quiz show. He had reigned for 12 days. His total winnings were $297,200.

"A great run," summed up host Alex Trebek.

Chu was unseated by Diana Peloquin of Ann Arbor, Mich., who led for the day with $15,700.

Chu had struggled for much of the show when, in Final Jeopardy, he risked, and lost, his entire day's bankroll — $6,400 — on the question: "He was the last male monarch who had not previously been Prince of Wales."

Only Peloquin had the correct response: George VI.

The 30-year-old Chu, a resident of Broadview Heights, Ohio, has described himself on Twitter as "mad genius, comedian, actor and freelance voiceover artist."

He applied a "mad genius" approach to "Jeopardy!" brinkmanship. He ditched the time-honored practice of polishing off each category's questions one by one. Instead, he took a hopscotch approach to his category choices, which tended to keep his opponents off-kilter.

He also concluded that the bottom rows of the game board are most likely to contain the hidden Daily Doubles, and he played accordingly.

Chu's strategy fueled indignation from "Jeopardy!" traditionalists, who contended that such an aggressive style was somehow unsportsmanlike and exhibited a lack of respect for the game.

Chu "rejected the unwritten rule that the guy or gal with the most facts wins," said "On the Media" host Brooke Gladstone on an episode of the public radio show last month, "and replaced it with the appalling idea that you can outwit your opponent with the wily application of game theory."

It was a style much different from that of legendary know-it-all Ken Jennings, who a decade ago set a "Jeopardy!" record with 74 consecutive victories while winning $2.5 million.